Meridian must offer an MQA decoder for this equipment to be possible - or I'm missing here to know more?
As Bob Stuart said in the
CES 2015 (MQA) Q&A:
A8.2. An MQA signal can be passed through any device that effectively is a bypass. A surround processor, except in bypass, changes the data and will revert the MQA to CD-quality if it does not have a decoder.
A8.3. An MQA decoder in a complex system such as a surround processor, naturally divides into its decoder and renderer (including DAC manager) sections with processing in between such as upscaling and bass management. Providing there is a secure communication between these parts they can be in different processors, chips or even different boxes. MHR/SpeakerLink happens to include syntax that permits this with authenticity. However The fact that something is possible doesn't mean we have a shareable plan to do it, or that we necessarily commit to go back through the last 20-years product range for software updates. Watch this space.
In short, there will almost certainly be a standalone MQA --> MHR decoder which can be used with 96/24 loudspeakers. What the feature set (ethernet input, USB input, SpeakerLink input, SPDIF input) of such a device or devices might be, we simply have to wait and see.
The more difficult question will be whether or not such a device can be connected to a legacy processor. Is MHR "just MHR" and any existing processor will work with a *decoded* MQA input? Will there (need to) be new firmware which can handle the decoded MQA signal (in MHR format)? Will there be new firmware which recognises (or can be programmed to recognise) an MQA decoder output and automatically apply a bypass mode? Etc. We have no idea at this time.
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